Absorbent articles are well known in the art. These articles typically have an absorbent assembly held or positioned in proximity to the body of a wearer during use in order to capture and absorb bodily exudates discharged from the wearer. Typical absorbent articles include a topsheet facing the wearer, which permits fluid exudates to pass through, and a backsheet, which prevents the exudates from escaping from the absorbent article.
Disposable absorbent articles such as diapers are designed to absorb and contain bodily waste in order to prevent soiling of the body and clothing of the wearer. Disposable diapers typically comprise a single design available in different sizes to fit a variety of wearers ranging from newborns to toddlers undergoing toilet training. The design of the diaper typically affects performance, such as the ability to absorb and contain bodily waste. The fit of the diaper on the wearer's body is typically affected by, for example, the size of the diaper waist opening, the size of the openings around the thighs, and the length or “pitch” of the diaper.
The toilet training stage may be referred to as the “point of exit” from the diaper product category because toddlers who have successfully completed toilet training typically no longer wear diapers. The age at which children are toilet trained in “developed” countries has increased steadily over the past several decades and is now in the range of about 24-48 months. One reason for which toilet training has become delayed is that significant technical improvements have been made in diaper dryness and comfort. For example, when wearing a typical modern diaper, the child may have dry skin even after one or more occurrences of urination. As a result, the child may feel little or no discomfort and often may not even be aware that he or she has urinated. However, having the child feel discomfort following urination in his or her “pants” may assist with learning and/or provide motivation to learn to voluntarily retain urine. It is possible to use cloth training pants that leave the skin wet and, due to their high breathability, promote evaporative cooling of the skin, further enhancing discomfort. However, cloth training pants have poor urine containment, often leading to wet clothing and wet surroundings, e.g., carpeting, furniture, etc.
In addition to tactile feedback, the toilet training process may incorporate a wide variety of different aspects, including many training techniques and training aids that may be used by a caregiver. One aspect of the toilet training process is the change from diapers to training pants, during which the child is taught to use a toilet just like adults. Another aspect of the toilet training process includes caregiver instruction as a positive encouragement and reinforcement to the child that he or she should now be using a toilet instead of diapers.
Unfortunately, conventional training techniques often focus on providing negative feedback rather than positive encouragement to stay dry. Articles are known which have an “active” graphic that disappears in the presence of urine. Such graphics provide negative reinforcement to the child that he or she has wet the article, but do not provide encouragement during the period during which the article was dry. Accordingly, such disappearing graphics may have only limited effect.
The prior art also generally suggests the use of active graphics that appear over time, thereby to provide positive encouragement to the child. U.S. Pat. No. 6,635,797, which issued to Olson et al. on Oct. 21, 2003, discloses an “active” graphic that becomes more visible with the passage of time when exposed to the environment but not exposed to urine. Olson et al. teach that the “active” graphic is an object, such as a fish or a butterfly. The “active” graphic may also be a plurality of the same object, such as a plurality of fish or a plurality of butterflies. The use of repetitive “active” graphics, however, is potentially monotonous and therefore risks losing the child's interest in the toilet training process.
The prior art is limited to providing a single type of sensory feedback. Articles that facilitate transmission of temperature changes or wetness following urination provide a negative, tactile reminder to the child. “Active” graphics that disappear upon contact by urine provide a negative, visual reminder. Active graphics that appear over time provide a positive, visual reminder.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an article that can facilitate urinary toilet training by providing different appearing graphics that captivate and maintain a child's interest. It would also be desirable for an article to provide multi-sensory feedback to a child that may send redundant or different reminders during the toilet training process.